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Mac

Migrating to iMac:

• [X] Got the iMac, got the 2TB external drive, got TechTool Pro. Mostly migrated to the iMac.
  
• [_] Back up ALL your stuff manually onto the new 2TB drive. (Hopefully it plugs into the Firewire slot.) If this thing isn't a disappointment after a week or two, order another drive to use with Time Machine.
  
• [_] Install TechTool Pro's eDrive (emergency partition).
  
• [_] Install "safety" stuff first. Pay for and install File Buddy ($40).
  
• [_] Install scanner software from CD. Get the Canon CD from the CD box of "essential" software.
  
• [_] Things to do (XMenu): Turn the bookmarks on these pages into "things to do", e.g., folders with names beginning with "Read about" and containing "webloc" links.
  
• [_] Tablet! Get a Wacom Intuos3 6x9 tablet (~$300).
  
• [_] Explore 3D software.
  • Still looking at GroBoto.
  • Look for prebuilt posable characters for use in Blender.
  • Aspex Software makes 3D software for kids.
  • Try MakeHuman^(w) (character-creation interface) and Aqsis^(w) (renderer) as a possible freeware alternative to Poser. It promises to make posing characters easy.
    • MakeHuman quick-start guide.
    • (If you don't like the look of the models or decide that they are not flexible enough, you can always use them as posable mannequins -- pose them in MakeHuman, export an image, open the image in a paint program like PhotoLine or ArtRage, and alter the image to suit.)
  • Check out Wings 3D.
  • Evolver sounds promising -- it's supposed to let you generate a fully rigged character by evolving it from "ancestor" models -- but I haven't been able to find out much about it, not even if there is a Mac OS X version -- not even from the company's website! All I get there is "Evolver 2.0 -- coming soon!"
  • Daily Makeover -- possible source of inspiration for female characters?
    
• [_] Install other stuff.
  • Paid for (so have serial numbers handy!): AppZapper, Bryce, PhotoLine, Acorn, FlySketch, Notae, Picturesque, VoodooPad Pro.
    
  • Freeware
    • Punakea (Leopard only)
    • Fluid (Leopard only)
      *** 3D and graphics: Blender, Google Sketchup, MacConScript, GraphViz
    • Astronomy: Stellarium, Celestia
    • Audio and video: GimmeSomeTune, iPodDisk, Perian, VLC
    • Files and backup: gDisk, GrandPerspective
    • Database: Norrkross Register, Anxiety
    • Fonts: FontExplorer X
  • Pay for (but try before you buy):
    • GroBoto ($79)
    • Bento ($49) (Leopard only)
      • Why get Bento? Bento makes creating relationships between libraries a simple process. You can manually create Related Records List fields, just like you can create any other support field type. But Bento has an even quicker, easier way to add a related record field to a library. Simply hold down the shift key and drag the library from the source list you wish to use to the records pane. Bento will add a Related Records List field to the home inventory library, and create a relationship between the two libraries for you. If you change information in one library, it will be automatically updated in the other library. (source: About.com)
    • FlyPath ($13) (FlyPath is free if you spend $99 getting GoodPage, which offers WYSIWYG editing of HTML)
    • A Better Finder Rename+A Better Finder Attributes ($35)
    • HoudahGeo (~$42)
    • Norrkross Movie ($59)
    • Poser Pro ($500)
    • TypeTool+ScanFont ($198)
    • Drawit Pro (~$42)
    • ArtRage ($25)
      • What is the difference between "ArtRage Full Edition" ($25) and "ArtRage Deluxe" ($50)? "ArtRage Deluxe includes tutorials and videos to learn from, reference images for tracing and stencils for painting precise shapes."
    • iFlash ($15)
• [_] Trim the apps. Back up the Applications folder onto an external drive, then use Trimmer or some such app to slim your working apps down.
• [_] Organize the apps. Apps you don't use often should go into a subfolder in the Applications folder.
• [_] Move stuff from the website. Take each project on the website and make it a "Thing to do", e.g., SandboxOS.

Aliases

• To keep the word "alias" out of an alias's filename, hold the Option and Command keys and drag your file outside its Finder window.

Spaces

• Hint: As of 10.5.3, you can have Spaces bring an application into the current workspace: Uncheck "When switching to an application, switch to a space with open windows for the application", then log out and log back in. The new behavior:
  • Click an app's icon in the Dock once to bring the app forward into the current space.
  • Click the icon again to go to the next space in which the app has an open, unminimized window.
• You can drag a window to the screen's edge, and if there's another space in that direction, Leopard will go to that space after a second, bringing the window with it.
• Yes, you can use dual monitors with Spaces.

Keyboard shortcuts

Incentives to get Leopard/iMac

• Time Machine (automatic hourly backup).
• Cover Flow and Quick Look (and apps that extend or take advantage of these).
• Fluid (site-specific browsers!) (Candidates for SSBs:)
  • Pandora (online custom radio station)
  • YouConvertIt (online file converter!)
  • YouGetSignal (online Internet utilities)
  • BuiltWith (website analysis tool)
  • Jjot (online noteboard application)
  • FlashCards
  • GoogleDocs
  • DrawAnywhere (online diagramming application)
• ZFS
• Spaces (but remember, ALL windows of a given application go into a single space).
• NameMangler
• Radon fast web browser.
• ChocoFlop image editor (uses GPU for processing).

Getting a SecondMac

Building a Hackintosh

Get:

• GhostReader 1.5 -- try it, buy it for $40. Voices are apparently excellent, but listen to all of them.
• Drawit -- download Drawit Lite and verify that it works in Tiger, then buy the full version.

Getting Ready • Software • Hardware • Scripts • Tips • MacBook

MyOSXFreeware • thrift mac • FreewareMac.net • Freeware OS X • MacWorld • MacUser • MacFormat • Daring Fireball • 43 Folders • Infinite Loop • MacDevCenter • MacSurfer • MacZealots • LowEndMac • The (aa) blog • Bare Feats • Switching to Mac • SurfBits • MacRumors (Buyer's Guide) • Mac Fanatic • Andrew's Mac Tips • MacInstruct • MacThemes2 • Mac OS X Hints • MacMerc • Mac Efficiency • CLIX Exchange • SHELLdorado • Architosh • IUseThis

Forums: Mac minis Drobo

To do

• Get online Azarennya stuff into Journler.
• Start scanning stuff in.
• Start playing around with Vue.

Get more disk space!!!

• RAID 1 setups? Look for two-disk RAID 1 enclosures (something like this), buy hard disks in pairs, and look around for RAID software for OS X.
  • Other possible enclosures: ARAID, SataSite
• Play with the Drobo for a while, see how fast it is (not only for movies and audio but also how quickly it goes into a "power-save" mode and how quickly it becomes ready after "waking up").
• My Drobo will at first have only the two 500GB drives. I want to use this configuration for a bit (see how fast it is and whether it has to be "awakened" frequently like my LaCie disk) before getting more drives.
• If I get more drives, they'll be 500GB at first (these can be found for $100 to $150 apiece) until prices on 1TB drives come down or I run out of space.
• Copy DVDs onto my disk drives. Start copying Netflix DVDs onto drives!
  • The quick way is just to copy the VIDEO_TS folder -- if the average size is 5GB, then 500GB is space for 100 movies. This also preserves chapter points and special features.
  • You can always compress a movie into an AVI file later.
• Another Drobo? ($500 + ($125 x 4) = $1000 for another 1.4TB of self-duplicating space)

Switching to the Mac

• Two Weeks of OS X
• A Month with a Mac: A Die-Hard PC User's Perspective
• OS X (10.4 "Tiger") vs. Windows XP (SP2)
• Switcher's Guide to the Mac
• Itchy Hands: How to Switch to Mac
• HOWTO/Switch to the Mac

Why NOT Vista?

• A security feature that nags you so much, you'll turn it off.
• Vista 1.0 apparently has serious issues with memory allocation, console boxes, and help files -- and with installing the latest version of Nero.

XP Issues that probably won't be fixed in Vista:

• Odd things – moments when applications or even Windows itself stops responding to events for several seconds, for no obvious reason.
• My mouse seems to leap to another part of the screen sometimes, again for no obvious reason, but usually when the system is trying to do something else at the same time.

A comment on why Microsoft added UAC (User Access Control) to Vista in the first place:

"It's not that the kernel and core OS components are insecure so much as it's the applications demanding access to system-wide resources. I'm sure that Windows has many system resources that should be per-user, but changing these would break the applications. The applications were written on the premise that the user has full reign over the system, which is no longer the case. The crap that used to pass for an application doesn't cut it anymore, and that's why we (or more accurately you [all], since I don't use Vista) have UAC.

"Other operating systems provide the same mechanisms provided by UAC, but they're much less annoying because the applications for those platforms understand that the user has limited rights. Most Linux distributions have a one-command or one-click software update facility that only requires root authentication once, not once (or more) for every package. Changing desktop or application settings is not a privileged operation. If Vista worked like this, then UAC wouldn't be universally hated at all.

"People liken UAC to a "boy who cried wolf" situation. But these prompts aren't false alarms, they are actually wolves in sheep's clothing. The applications shouldn't be doing this stuff, but the user has to let them have their way or else they won't work properly."

Why Intel and not PowerPC?

• One reason is that it leaves open the possibility of dual-booting into another x86 operating system if you want, such as Ubuntu.
• Another is Boot Camp (see also apple.com, which will let you run Windows on a Mac (so you don't have to "quit cold turkey" all of your apps like AceText, EditPad, and Euphoria.
• There is at least the possibility that an upcoming version of OS X could run Windows applications natively without Windows being installed on the Mac.